Hell Above, Deep Water Below

by Dale A. Russell

This story marks the transition of a rural high school boy during World War II through basic training, torpedo School, submarine school and into submarine warfare in the Sea of Japan. It is a tale of war, as more than one submariner experienced it; it is a tale of readjustment to peace. It is a story of meeting the demons of war and coming to terms with them. But most of all, it takes us into the world -- the sights, smells and sounds of submarine warfare as it was actually experienced from inside a one-inch hull in the World War II Pacific Theater. One can smell the fear, see the planes with their bombs, hear the emergency klaxon's sound; feel the pounding of the depth charges and experience the muscle strain from pushing the torpedoes home. It is a documentary of great triumph, in which tragedy is not forgotten. It swelters in 129-degree heat and shivers in arctic winds. It is, then, manifestly, a book that one feels -- in the mind, heart, muscles and guts. It is the story, and the uncertainty, of the double cat and mouse game of war, in which at any moment, the mouse you chase may become the cat, and you his small prey.

Genres: History

212 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 1995